Peter Phippen
/ Press

““The Dreaming Tree” features Rahbi Crawford. Crystal bowls and pyramids provide an ethereal depth to this piece. The echoing sound of the crystals reaches out, blending with the flute to ensnare the listener with a deep spiritual experience. Haunting and vast, this track is haunting."”

“Peter Phippen, Enrique Rueda and Rahbi Crawford have created an album that gets back to the basics. The combination of these three highly talented musicians has given way to an exceptionally beautiful album. Sacred Spaces is pure inspiration. If you enjoy a musical journey as well-crafted as the finest tapestry, then you must listen to this magnificent album.”

“Peter is a consummate musician and a generous educator. His World Flute presentation was so engaging that none of us wanted it to end!
As a performer, his mastery of such a variety of world flute styles is astounding. The subtlety of his performance was transcendent.
We look forward to his next visit.
”

Brian Pertl, Dean - Lawrence Conservatory of Music

“Phippen and Kastinen have created a deceptively simple album with Lavender Calm. The use of the many flutes in Phippen’s collection make this album a journey back in time to a simpler place where things slow down and slow breathing is a virtue. Kastinen’s use of the kantele adds a texture and grace to the album with the harp like string work and fusion of the two types of instruments. If you are looking for a moment of peace and an escape from a hectic day, pour yourself a cup of tea and put on this album. Close your eyes, lay back and just listen.
”

“Lavender Calm brings together the spontaneous improvisations of two very disciplined musicians. Arja Kastinen, a graduate of the folk music department of the Sibelius Academy, plays several
different small kanteles on this recording, and Peter Phippen, a Grammy Award nominee, plays numerous flutes on the 11 tunes. Referred to as
"new age" music. Lavender Calm stands apart from all the rest in that genre: It is not a mix of shallow sweet sounds. Lavender Calm is so much more, so much deeper, than new age music.
”

Gerry Henkel - New World Finn

“Improvisationalists Peter Phippen and Dr. Arja Kastinen musically fuse to create possibly the most serene, original collaboration of innovative music available today. A GRAMMY Award nominee, Peter Phippen is an innovative performer of world flutes. Researching the performance technique and history of his vast collection of antique and contemporary anthropological aerophones ultimately led him to bring this knowledge to concert stages, educational facilities and recordings.
Dr. Arja Kastinen specializes in 19th century Karelian kantele improvisation. The kantele is a stringed instrument of the Karelian and Finnish peoples that is played by plucking the strings. Kastinen's performances are experimental journeys into the dim and distant past seeking to uphold tradition while creating new sounds.
”

“The voice of the flute is the voice of the human heart. When we hear the flute, we hear the heart's passions, joys, and losses. Flutist Peter Phippen captures the power of the flute to invoke the hidden places of the heart. His music for ancient and contemporary shakuhachi, Native American, Anasazi, and bamboo flutes is intimate and insightful, joyous and melancholy.”

Canyon Records

"Peter Phippen astonishes us again with flutes that are played with a style that extends beyond imagination."

Ethnotempos, France

"Traditionally, the Native American flute has a sound that could be characterized as haunting. Few flutists, however, bring as much warmth and richness to a single tone as Peter Phippen does. His playing is earthy, improvised and impressionistic, offering listeners a beautifully serene atmosphere for meditation and reflection."

Music Design

"Words like 'ethereal' and 'superb' work well on Phippen's list of critical superlatives."

Watertown Daily Times, Watertown, New York

"Summerland is Peter Phippen's best work to date. The music is expressive and heartfelt, nudging the senses and the soul, inviting the listener to soar in the skies of light and darkness. It is music that is fresh and thoughtful. Summerland is truly a gift to be cherished."

International Native American Flute Association

"Like a call in the wild, the alluring, soothing, hypnotic tones of the wind instruments lulled and enchanted."

Dunn County News, Menomonie, Wisconsin

“Traditional flute player Peter Phippen turns in a very Southwest-flavored outing with Echoes of the Past, performing not only on Native American flute but also on bamboo flute and shakuhachi. Some selections are accompanied by gentle synthesizer washes and contemplative ethnic percussion grooves, while on others, Phippen plays unaccompanied. In both scenarios, Phippen's flutes are melodic and passionate yet never flashy, and enhance the peaceful moods of the compositions.”

"Shadows of Dawn " - Peter Phippen (Canyon Records). Soothing calm is the reaction to the flute playing of Peter Phippen. This CD could be just the ticket to bring a hard's day's labor gracefully to a close, or to meditate. The flute is masterfully blended with subtlety, emotions and overtone. The sound of percussion adds a heartbeat, calling the mind to ease. This CD is worth having.

Navajo Times

“Peter Phippen is a heaven-born flutist. His flutes are so precise in reproducing the finest nuances of human emotions.”

Serge Kozlovsky

"Phippen's sole desire to preserve the sounds of the past is where the idea for the album "Woodnotes Wyld: Historic Flute Sounds from the Dr. Richard W. Payne Collection" came from in the first place. And although simple, the charm that comes with an album dedicated to capturing only the purest sounds might have been what caused some to take notice. "

Leader-Telegram Eau Claire, Wisconsin

"Most New Age music is pretty vapid stuff, but Native American flute music is one of its more worthwhile subgenres. Although Peter Phippen played rock and avant-garde jazz before discovering the flute, there are virtually no vestiges of his earlier musical explorations left on Shadows Of Dawn, his fourth album for Canyon. A mere reading of the tracks, which have titles such as “Ritual,” “The Dawning,” “Invocation,” “Oceans of Time,” and “A Silent Place,” reveal that Phippen doesn’t stray too far from the musical pursuit of serenity, a not ignoble goal. Besides the Native American flute, Phippen plays the shakuhachi, the transverse bamboo flute, the Anasazi flute, and the bone whistle."

"Well, you can add Grammy nominee to local flute god Peter Phippen’s already hefty resumé. The 53rd Grammy Awards have nominated Phippen in their Best Native American Music Album (vocal or instrumental) category."